New Cocktail Trend Is Actually Based On An Ancient Origin
Graham crackers were originally introduced as a means of suppressing "carnal desires." Coca-Cola was once laced with cocaine to numb injuries. These suspect beginnings are somewhat easy to look past, but would you consume a drink once associated with humanity's deadliest period?
A history like that doesn't seem too attractive a selling point, yet this new beverege trend has cocktail connoisseurs young and old just dying for a taste. While it began as lighthearted delve into an era nothing like our own, this creative concoction soon became a sobering reminder that the dangers of our past are never too far away.
Cocktails, however, are pretty much designed to make us forget that unsettling fact — along with our name, fine motor skills, and inhibitions. But for Nicole LaBouff, a Jack and Coke just wasn't doing it for her.
As the Associate Curator of Textiles at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA), Nicole was more interested in the strange and sometimes unsavory beverages of the past — her interest, however, went beyond just a good time.
The MIA featured several 18th-century period rooms from places like Paris and Providence, Rhode Island, though Nicole often had trouble getting visitors to connect with these exhibits. Then, it hit her: what better way to bridge the 300-year gap than with something as universal as booze?
She decided to contact Emily Beck, an Assistant Curator at the University of Minnesota’s Wangensteen Historical Library who specializes in historical recipes. Yet Nicole's quest for the perfect 17th-century cocktail wouldn't be as straightforward as watching a few episodes of Barefoot Contessa.
Early-modern European cookbooks were incredibly expensive, making them accessible only to Europe's wealthy, literate elite. Considering they were such a valued rarity, these books were expected to contain far more than just a few recipes.
Medicinal remedies were a main feature of early cookbooks, with instructions for potions and poultices just a page over from recipes for roast chicken and duck. Nicole and Emily took a keen interest in these unusual Medieval brews, including one with a particularly grim association...
Plague water. Consisting of herbs distilled in alcohol, this fragrant beverage was used by Medieval doctors to counter "miasma," or foul-smelling air, which was believed to cause plagues. Unfortunately, turning this centuries-old concoction into a trendy cocktail wouldn't be so simple.
While plague waters were typically home-brewed during the Middle Ages, distilling alcohol at home is illegal in the United States. That's when Nicole and Emily decided to get some help from Dan Oskey.
Founder of Tattersall Distilling in Minneapolis, Dan was more than happy to help the two historians on their boozy quest. But as the trio began combing through various plague water recipes, their plan hit a snag.
For starters, many of the herbs were referred to by outdated names, making it difficult to identify even the simplest ingredients. They also struggled to make sense of the recipes' measurements, which sometimes called for "handfuls" and didn't specify whether the herbs were fresh or dried.
Worst of all, though, was that many of the recipes required ingredients that weren't exactly safe for human consumption. One drink called for pennyroyal, an English herb that causes liver damage, and another even included "Venice treacle," which contains a mix of viper’s flesh, skink bellies, and opium.
But after a little trial and error — and after swapping out the toxic ingredients, of course — the trio finally perfected its modern-day plague water. "It has this kind of mushroomy, umami quality to it," Nicole said of the Medieval cocktail, though she and her team weren't through just yet.
The trio also sourced several somewhat tamer options from the recipe books, including pear ratafia, a fruity cordial, and a rum-based milk punch. Their tastebuds gave the entire menu the go-ahead, though now it was time to see if their efforts would truly pay off.
In March 2019, the team debuted their drinks at the Tattersall Cocktail Room, whimsically dubbing the event the "Plague Party." Along with plates of early-modern English pastries, each guest was invited to sample the unique array of plague-inspired beverages — many, however, needed some convincing.
Yet one by one, the partygoers fell in love with the revolutionary new cocktails. Nicole, Emily, and Dan were thrilled to see their plan come to fruition, though they never expected that just a year later, the Tattersall Cocktail Room would sit empty — and the rest of the country along with it.
In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic swept through the United States, forcing the country into lockdown and shuttering most of the nation's small businesses — Tattersall Distillery included. But Dan wasn't about to let all of his space and resources go to waste.
With a bit of elbow grease, Dan converted his facility to produce isopropyl alcohol instead of ethanol in an effort to help meet hospitals' sky-high demands for hand sanitizer. Employing 12 workers stationed six feet apart, Tattersall was able to produce 9,000 gallons of isopropyl a week.
As for Nicole and Emily, the Coronavirus outbreak placed new meaning into their research. In the midst of so much panic and uncertainty, the two historians now saw that plague water wasn't just some quack remedy: it was an attempt to find hope in such an uncertain time.
"It does get you to forge this empathetic connection with people in the past," Nicole shared. "Being in the midst of it now, you experience it in a whole new way."
As the world continued to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, people reached for alcohol of all kinds to ease their fears. But if the next bottle they drank from was made by Les and Paula Ansley, they needed to take a good look at the ingredients label.
Whether it be in a fizz or with a light tonic, people either love or hate the bitter, piney taste of gin. While gin comes in a plethora of flavors, Les and Paula brought something fresh to the table — or, in this case, the bar.
When the couple visited South Africa's Botlierskop Game Reserve, which is a family-owned and privately-operated animal reserve, they were captivated by its herd of beautiful elephants. During the visit, they learned something peculiar.
They were astonished to discover elephants only digest about 30% of what they eat. Their earthy bush diets consist of fruits, nuts, flowers, leaves, and bark, which means you could probably guess what's leftover in their fragrant dung.
In the center of elephant dung clusters you'll find a bulk of coiled, undigested botanicals, which left Paula with a raised eyebrow. She had her entrepreneurial thinking cap firmly on her head.
Even after said visit to the reserve, Paula couldn't stop thinking about that elephant poop. She was so consumed by her businesswoman thoughts that she promptly woke up Les one morning at 6:00 AM to unleash her crazy idea on him.
“Paula said to me, ‘Why don’t we make gin from the elephant dung?’ and I said, ‘Ah, okay, let’s see about it.'" While this exchange was both offbeat and funny, was it possible that Paula was onto something?
Hoping to include the flavorful, undigested bits of elephant dung as a star ingredient in their burgeoning gin recipe, the couple, who are professors of physiology and immunology respectively, kindly asked for a bag of elephant feces from the reserve that inspired it all.
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The reserve complied with the request. Of course, Les and Paula knew this would need to go through a few sanitizing steps before being ready for consumption. They dried, washed, sterilized, macerated, and re-dried the excrement to unveil pieces of vegetation.
The fermented shrub remnants were then infused into a base of gin. “Think of it as a teabag,” Les explained of the dung-extracted botanicals. Considering the duo isn't exactly adept in the gin-making world, they had watchful eyes on them during the whole process.
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South African spirits master Roger Jorgensen partook in the process, essentially acting as an alcohol concocting chaperone to the couple. He owned his own distillery and was sweetly known as South Africa's "Father of Craft Spirits." He knew what he was doing.
“If you’re going to make gin from [crap], you can’t make a [crap] gin,” Les said of the painstaking process. The couple strove for perfection in a field that never asked for a crap flavor. Could they pull it off?
They sure did. The Ansleys called their revolutionary brand Indlovu Gin, the word "indlovu" being Zulu for “elephant.” While their finished product sounds like a gimmicky gag gift, it proved to be the epitome of alcoholic excellence.
Famed gin aficionado and South African native Christine Perrett put in her two cents when it came to how Indlovu Gin stood up to its steep competition. Did we mention that Christine has sampled over 220 gins? She's oozing with booze knowledge.
“I’ve got 10, 15 staple bottles I always keep in my cabinet. Indlovu would absolutely be one of them. They’ve taken African botanicals and balanced it so well. To be able to take a gin neat says a lot," Christine explained.
Liquor stores across South Africa and Europe, specifically Germany and Belgium, have had stampedes of consumers purchasing the poop-derived liquor. The ever-so curious public has clearly spoken.
While Indlovu Gin has been praised by both the average Tom Collins consumer and booze enthusiasts alike, nothing proved Indlovu's legitimacy and prestige like it winning Double Gold at South Africa’s 2019 Craft Gin Awards. The brand was kicking butt, taking names, and cashing checks.
Now, the Ansleys collect the elephant dung from the reserve by hand. Since each elephant creates 80 kilos of savory feces each day, Les clarified that there's an endless surplus of botanicals to forage for.
Considering each elephant consumes varying kinds and amounts of greenery throughout the year, every bottle of Indlovu is packed with one-of-a-kind flavor. And adorably, each bottle also exhibits the unique GPS coordinates and the date of the diligent dung collecting.
But the Ansleys never wanted Indlovu to be gluttonous, greedily taking the gifts of the animal kingdom. So, to honor the elephants contributing to the brand, Indlovu donates 15% of its profits to the Africa Foundation, which is dedicated to animal conservation and ranger training.
While you sip on your French 75 like a swanky gin connoisseur, you can feel good about your crunchy, animal-friendly decision (and about that botanical-motivated buzz). It's arguably easy to get past the whole feces thing, especially considering there are other foods consisting of much nastier ingredients.
When you're a cheese lover, there aren't too many greater privileges in life than eagerly watching a massive cheese cart roll out from a restaurant kitchen. It's a beautiful thing when it makes its way around the room, ready to tantalize your taste buds with flavors, smells, and textures.
The wonderful world of cheese reaches every corner of the globe. Sure, most people are familiar with basic types like mozzarella or cheddar, but there are some varieties so unusual you can only find them in a handful of locations.
For example, this is casu marzu, and it's a Sardinian cheese comprised of thousands of tiny maggots! People claim the stomach-churning ingredient lends an astounding flavor. As insane as casu marzu cheese is, however, it's nothing compared to what some people in England created.
You could find the cheese at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, which holds the world's largest collection of decorative art and design. In May 2019, it prepared for a display unlike any it'd ever had.
There, inside these three climate-controlled glass cases, were five types of cheese. But, no ordinary cheese would ever find its way into this museum. This cheese was made using bacteria gathered from an unlikely source.
That source? British celebrities! The people behind this bizarre, but undeniably fascinating, experiment were Thomas Meany and Helene Steiner. These human cheese artisans started the whole thing in a unique little community in Shepherd's Bush, London.
Sprawled out over several acres in Shepherd's Bush is an area consisting of 45 shipping containers that were refurbished to house all different activities. One of these activities was Open Cell, the biotechnology research hub run by Thomas and Helene.
You might think one single shipping container couldn't possibly offer enough room for the two scientists to dabble in their cheesy creations, but it worked. So, who exactly were the celebs giving up their bacteria for cheese?
Two of the biggest names were Michelin-starred chef Heston Blumenthal and rapper Professor Green. Also on the roster were rocker Alex James from Blur, food writer Ruby Tandoh, and singer Graham McPherson.
The project was called Selfmade, and all of the cheese was created using the bacteria swabbed from different parts of the chosen celebs' bodies, such as the nose, armpit, ear, and belly button.
Because this was an unheard of subject, the Selfmade team launched a YouTube video explaining the details of the whole process. A chef named John Quilter helped walk viewers through it all.
The team made Blumenthal a comté, Professor Green mozzarella, James a Cheshire cheese, Tandoh a Stilton, and McPherson a cheddar. As delicious as they sound, however, the display wasn't intended for tasting.
Writer Ruby Tandoh detailed her experience of becoming a piece of Stilton. She referred to the whole production as a "stubbornly strange, silly, unsterile food antic." But hey, at least she can say there's a cheese out there literally made of her.
Interestingly enough, this wasn't the first time human bacteria was used in a cheesemaking process. Two women did the same thing in 2013, and Selfmade was a recreation of their work.
Then, a synthetic biologist and artist named Christina Agapakis teamed up with a scientist and "scent specialist" named Sissel Tolaas to successfully create cheese from the bacteria of a handful of volunteers.
But, if all this cheese wasn't meant for human consumption, why exactly was it created in the first place? The reason was simple: In today's world, people go a little too crazy over cleanliness sometimes, and scientists want to change the negative stigma against bacteria.
Whether we want to admit it or not, bacteria is everywhere all the time. Sure, some of it's unhealthy and leads to sickness, but there's plenty of good bacteria that play a productive role in our life.
Selfmade clearly showed cheese, a food millions of people love, contains bacteria to help the curds form. Instead of looking at it with disgust, we need to understand the extraordinary role it plays when it comes to food; it's something we all require.
This also explains why some of your cheese can smell a bit like feet. It's because with many smellier kinds of cheese, the strains of bacteria inside are the exact same ones found in parts of the human body, like feet. It's all connected!
The public can be picky with food, especially when words like bacteria get thrown around. That's why Selfmade isn't working alone in its mission to sway public opinion about food's less appealing ingredients.
One such company is the furniture giant IKEA. There's an old joke that says IKEA is the place to end relationships: its furniture and diverse selection causes dedicated couples to argue. But in reality, the furniture giant is trying to make the world a better place. With food.
See, amidst Copenhagen's high-energy Meatpacking District — a hot spot full of Nordic seafood bars and cafes — is the headquarters for IKEA's little-known project, Space 10.
Don't think for one second that because the exterior design lacks any real vibrancy that anything ordinary goes on inside. It's packed with scientists with a simple mission: save the world.
Ikea realized that we tend not to dwell on the fact that the world's food supply is quickly running out. And why would we? The thought of limited access to food is terrifying (we've all seen movies where starving people turn into savages at the mere sight of anything digestible)!
Environmental statistics show one-third of the food produced by factories all over the world gets thrown away. That's an alarming fact. The United Nations also reported that by 2050, the world needs to produce 70 percent more food.
But, before you pop a Zoloft thinking about the dire situation, you can rest easy knowing IKEA is working around the clock to combat the problems — this is why Space10 exists. You need to see their innovations to actually believe them.
Space10's founders, a designer and former professional dancer, Carla Cammilla Hjort, and former documentary filmmaker, Simon Caspersen, took the reigns of the laboratory in 2015 after wowing IKEA's CEO, Torbjörn Lööf.
Hjort gave a presentation to the CEO in 2014, and he was so enthralled with her work he led a successful collaboration into limited-edition furniture. But, that was just the very start of her positive impact at IKEA.
After she hit her 2014 presentation out of the park, Lööf asked the designer to "create a better IKEA for the future." Now, that was a pretty overwhelming request, but she had the answer...
Hjort crafted another presentation, this one lasting six hours, detailing Space10's mission — to develop a way to keep food sustainable for future generations. Lööf was hooked, so Hjort went straight to work using the funding IKEA offered up.
One such endeavor was aquaponic farming, where fish and plants were bred in symbiosis. This kind of farming can be done year round and in any climate! Hjort's team had plenty of other projects in the works.
Another ambitious undertaking was something Hjolt called SolarVille. A team of researchers built a working prototype of a miniature neighborhood powered entirely by the sun. But, it was the culinary world Space10 truly took by storm.
Yep, Space10 dipped its hands in many different jars, but their ideas and projects on the future of food were prioritized — you know, what with the dwindling food supply. They've employed some pretty crazy research.
For instance, these spherical structures teeming with vegetation are called Growrooms. Space10 created these food-producing architectural domes to serve as urban farms. Some produce fast-growing algae to combat potential livestock-feeding problems.
It's the human food, however, that garnered much of the public's attention. Space10's goal was to create nutrient-rich foods that aren't completely bland, which is much harder than you might think.
One highly innovative experiment was called "Tomorrow's Meatball," where chefs unveiled different types of meatballs, such as one that was grown artificially in a lab (bottom right), and one that was created in a 3D printer (top right)!
Simon Perez, the chef heading the culinary creations, turned to a fascinating experimental ingredient: spirulina. This micro-algae was a popular addition in Aztec cooking, and it's incredibly versatile.
One of the spirulina-based concoctions was this meatless hot dog. All you carnivores out there might immediately scoff at the idea, but pickled mustard seeds and chives, a beetroot-black currant ketchup, curried mayo, and a garnish of crispy onions and microgreens might hit the spot.
Chef Perez even made ice cream using the spirulina. The chances of it offering the same satisfaction as a tub of Ben & Jerry's is likely slim, but flavor comes second when the world needs food. But if you think spirulina's an odd ingredient, strap in for their next food venture.
Bugs! The thought of eating the creepy crawlies that live in the dirt below is a tough pill to swallow, but in the future, we might not have a choice. Space10 at least found a way to make 'em semi-palatable.
Many times, it's just the thought of eating bugs that deter people. A talented chef can mask pungent flavors and off-putting textures, and Space10 hoped this burger was proof. The patty consisted of mealworms, beets, parsnips, and potatoes.
The people behind the work at IKEA's Space10 know how important preparing for the future is, and they're achieving it through incredible technological leaps and bounds. Luckily, Space10 isn't alone in their conservation mission.
Considering oceans cover 70% of the Earth's surface, it's no wonder that these waters are where most of our world's pollution lies. The prospect of literally cleaning oceans may seem impossible, but one initiative is hoping to do just that.
With the help of a man-made "coastline," The Ocean Cleanup has been using the natural forces of the sea to collect plastic waste since 2013. The nonprofit organization is aiming to remove 50% of the ocean's plastic within the next 5 years, leading to 90% removal by 2040.
Then there's Jadav Payeng. While walking along the eroded banks of the Brahmaputra river, Jadav Payeng came across a number of snakes that had died from exposure. The concerned tribesman proceeded to plant 20 bamboo seedlings, hoping to one day restore life to the area.
Forty years later, the seedlings are part of a 1,300 acre reserve hand-planted by Payeng himself. The once-barren landscape is now home to a variety of mammals and birds, and Payeng continues growing his forest in the hope of one day saving the world.
Aside from that, while plastic remains one of the biggest man-made threats to the environment, e-waste is a close second. Out of the millions of tons of electronics that are thrown away each year, only about 20% are recycled and repurposed.
Thankfully, the Medal Project is striving to change that. In preparation for the 2020 Olympics, the project has been collecting e-waste and will transform this scrap into the bronze, silver, and gold medals that will be awarded at the Tokyo games.
Similarly, for years, the Henley Reserve in Kwinana, Australia, was plagued with pollution. The sewer pipes did little to impede the flow of garbage into the waters, and every day, dozens of workers were rounded up to remove the trash by hand.
But in 2018, the city decided to install nets below the sewer pipes to stop the pollution once and for all. The $20,000 investment has proven far more cost effective than paying for manual labor, and the nets have already collected well over 1,000 pounds of trash!
Global hunger, meanwhile, is another pressing environmental issue, yet every year developed countries discard a staggering 1.3 billion tons of food. And what's worse — there's usually little to nothing wrong with most of it.
To combat this, Danish supermarket WeFood has begun selling "undesirable" foodstuffs, such as expired canned goods and damaged produce. Not only is this practice reducing the amount of food waste in Denmark, but it's also cutting costs for consumers by up to 50%.
And while most people are more than willing to plant a tree to help the environment, actually doing so is easier said than done. But what if there was a way to plant millions of trees simply by searching the web?
That's the logic behind Ecosia, a search engine that plants one tree for every 50 online searches. Using ad revenue, Ecosia has planted 52,044,430 trees thus far, and that number continues to grow every second.
In the same vein, avocado lovers are all too familiar with the fruit's notorious pit, though it seems like such a waste to simply discard the perfectly good seed. BioFase thought so too, and so they developed a revolutionary new way to repurpose these pesky pits.
That's right: cutlery! The Mexico-based company converts discarded avocado seeds into single-use "plasticware" that biodegrades after just 240 days. Considering Mexico produces half of the world's avocados, they likely won't be running out of material any time soon.
Plastic is obviously one of the worst things for our planet — hence the avocado cutlery — and everyone knows how deadly six pack rings can be for small animals. Luckily, SaltWater Brewery has developed a beverage holder that is 100% plastic free.
Made of barley and wheat ribbons, SaltWater Brewery's Eco Six Pack Rings are both useful and environmentally friendly. And if an animal does manage to swallow a ring, it'll go down as easy as an afternoon snack.
Extraordinary people are doing their part to help the world. Being the first Indian woman to climb Mount Everest is impressive a feat as any, but even this wasn't enough to satisfy Bachendri Pal's fiery spirit. For her next big undertaking, however, she decided to work with the environment instead of struggling against it.
Alongside a team 40 individuals strong, Pal managed to remove 55 tons of pollution from India's Ganges river. Incredibly, the team was able to complete this massive project over the course of just a single month!
And yet, despite our best intentions, saving the planet isn't going to come cheap. Thankfully, however, a number of the world's wealthiest individuals have pledged to put their vast fortunes toward this noble goal, including Swiss philanthropist Hansjörg Wyss.
In an article titled "We Have to Save the Planet. So I’m Donating $1 Billion," Wyss explained that the goal of his donation is to protect 30% of the Earth's surface by 2030. If other billionaires are willing to follow suit, preserving the planet will become a real possibility. Creative minds can solve problems, too.
For instance, in January of 2017, towering flames swept across the south-central region of Chile. The fires, fueled by historically high temperatures and a long drought, turned vineyards, forests, and homes to ash.
Despite heroic efforts by firefighters, the flames only grew. Chilean President Michelle Bachelet declared a state of emergency. "We have never seen something of this size," she said. "Never in Chile's history."
In February, with the help of foreign aid from 12 countries including Japan, the United States, and Russia, Chile corralled and controlled the fires. The destruction, though, was almost inconceivable.
Nearly 1,500 homes fell to the fire that ate up 1,433,000 acres of drought-dry forests and claimed 11 lives in the El Maule region. Charred trees were all that remained in an ecosystem once teaming with animal life.
But in the wake of the fires, Francisca Torres (below) — who ran an environmental NGO called Pewos — and her sister undertook the impossible task of rejuvenating the forests. She enlisted some curious help to get the job done...
See, Francisca knew even with human replanting efforts, it would take decades to restore the charred forest. With her border collies, Summer, Olivia, and Das, however, she hoped to speed the process up.
The project, which started in March of 2017, drew inspiration from the legend of Johnny Appleseed, an 18th-century American who generously spread apple seeds all across Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.
Francisca and her sister's recreation of the American legend didn't feature a pioneer and nurseryman, however. Instead, her three border collies wore special backpacks, all stuffed with the seeds of native trees...
Then, she sent them off running into the charred forests! On a typical excursion, six-year-old Das led the charge, and her two pups followed close behind her. They played with seed-stuffed backpacks.
As the dogs ran and wrestled throughout the charred forests, they sent seeds flying from their special backpacks. The goal, of course, was to spread seeds far and wide.
Francisca (right) hoped the seeds would take root throughout the forest, giving life to trees, grass, and flowers. "The main thing," she said, "is for the fauna to be able to live."
Because Francisca knew that, if the trees and flowers returned to the Chilean forests, so would the bees, birds, and every other animal or insect exiled by the devastating fires.
Naturally, Summer, Olivia, and Das relished the opportunity to run free along the forest floor — even if they didn't truly understand their impact on the landscape. Even better, as Francisca pointed out, they were effective...
Border collies were bred to herd sheep. They're smart, they're fast, and they know not to get distracted by any bird they might see passing by overhead. But more importantly, they could cover serious distances.
Your average human, Francisca figured, might be able to cover effectively about two miles of forest per day using the Johnny Appleseed technique of haphazardly tossing seeds everywhere. But the dogs?
Thanks to their speed and energy, Summer, Olivia, and Das covered about 10 times as much as a human could — nearly 20 miles per day. And the dogs were handsomely rewarded for that...
Every time the dogs returned to Francisca, she refilled their backpacks with seeds...and handed over a few delicious dog treats, too! Then, of course, they were off to play again — and spread seeds.
Incredibly, the dogs did such a great job with the seeds — they each spread about 20 pounds worth every day in the field — that their services were used in forests throughout Chile.
Just from March 2017 to June 2017, for instance, Summer, Olivia, and Das visited 15 different flame-devastated forests in the region. At each burned spot, they brought their backpacks full of seeds. And best of all?
By June, Francisca shared the good news: "we have seen many results in flora and fauna coming back to the burned forest," she said. No doubt, those dogs definitely earned their treats!
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